Announcement

**Udog** · 10-23-2015, 08:39 AM

Armadillo: Friday's six-pack

-- Las Vegas native Bryce Harper was a judge for UNLV's dunk contest at their outdoor practice in downtown Vegas last night.

-- Seahawks 20, 49ers 3-- Monday night doubleheaders would be better than these Thursday night games. Football wasn't meant to be played on three days' rest.

-- Temple 24, East Carolina 14-- Owls are 7-0, play Notre Dame next week.

-- UCLA 40, Cal 24-- Bruins' kicker made 60-yard FG. Pac-12 teams are proving to be wildly erratic from week-to-week.

-- Appalachian State 31, Georgia Southern 13-- ASU is bowl eligible for first time.

-- Pelicans' G Tyreke Evans (knee) is out 6-8 weeks

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Armadillo: Friday's List of 13: For amusement only........

13) July 23, 2015-- the Mets rolled out a lineup with John Mayberry Jr batting 4th and Eric Campbell 5th. Not good. Mets were 52-50 on July 30, after blowing a 7-1 lead in a rainy home loss to San Diego. Things have gotten better since.

12) October 22, 1972-- Oakland A's won their first of three straight World Series, nipping the Reds 3-2. Pete Rose flied out to left to end the series, where six of seven games were decided by one run.

Same day, the Rams beat Cincinnati 15-14-- David Ray, who wasn't that great a kicker, won it with a 54-yard FG. Back then, straight-on kickers weren't that good- a 54-yard FG was a big deal, especially to win the game. Pretty good day for a 12-year old me.

By the way, Game 7 of the World Series back then was a 1:00 start. Not anymore.

11) Temple and Memphis are having magical football seasons, both unbeaten, but the sad reality of modern coaching is that there is a pretty good chance neither team will have its coach by the time their bowl games roll around, since the big $$$ teams generally like their new coaches in place as early as possible, to fight the upcoming recruiting battles. Signing Day for reruits is in very early February.

Hard to imagine coaches Fuente, Ruhle not moving up the coaching ladder.

10) Yoenis Cespedes plays golf almost every day? Wow. Long time ago, playing golf was taboo for baseball players. Even now, playing during the playoffs is a little odd.

9) Was thinking about it today; wouldn't basketball be a better game without any kind of timeouts, except TV timeouts? Let the players play. TV timeouts have to be, to pay for everything, but other ones could be done away with.

8) Dodgers finally put Don Mattingly and his 8-11 playoff record out of their misery Thursday, firing the skipper, who is rumored headed to Miami, where nitwit owner Jeffrey Loria can drive him nuts. You can't win with a $300M payroll, why would he be able to win managing one of baseball's most dysfunctional franchises?

7) Three basketball teams from the CAA have lost their leading returning scorer to higher-level Division I programs, as poaching continues to be a problem for mid-major basketball teams. Lousville poached Drexel's leading scorer; its a free country, but that just doesn't seem fair.

6) If I'm Johnny Cueto, a decent-but not-great free agent pitcher, I'm running back to the NL, where they don't have a DH and to a bigger ballpark than Cincinnati.

5) NFL teams who get the highest %age of their first downs on third down:
Browns 36.8%......Bears/Redskins, both 32.2%........Saints 32.1%

Teams that get the lowest %age of first downs on third down:
Cowboys 16.4%........Chiefs 16.9%........Cardinals 17.6%.

4) Florida Gators have a kicking problem; their starter has a hamstring pull, their backup is out for the year, so they held an open tryout Wednesday, for any student enrolled with 12+ credit hours this semester. Two women were among 216 students who were interested and signed up.

3) Cal Ripken is interested in the Nationals' managing opening, but apparently the team isn't interested in him, after just having had Matt Williams as manager, a former player with no managing experience. Curious to see who they hire.

2) Clippers 115, Portland 109-- NBA exhibition games don't mean much, but LA was down 35 points in this game before rallying to win. That doesn't happen a lot.

1) Doubtful that I'm getting my lazy butt out of bed at 9:30 Sunday morning to watch the Bills-Jaguars game from London on my laptop. Game is streaming on Yahoo!; I'm paying DirecTV to be able to see every game, but guess this one doesn't count.

**Udog** · 10-23-2015, 08:44 AM

MLB
Dunkel

LCS

Toronto @ Kansas City

Game 971-972
October 23, 2015 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Toronto
(Price) 14.959
Kansas City
(Ventura) 16.525
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Kansas City
by 1 1/2
8
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Toronto
-135
7 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Kansas City
(+115); Over

MLB
Long Sheet

Friday, October 23

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TORONTO (98 - 74) at KANSAS CITY (101 - 71) - 8:05 PM
DAVID PRICE (L) vs. YORDANO VENTURA (R)
Top Trends for this game.
PRICE is 29-32 (-20.4 Units) against the money line when the total is 7 or less since 1997. (Team's Record)
PRICE is 0-7 (-10.3 Units) against the money line in playoff games since 1997. (Team's Record)
KANSAS CITY is 101-71 (+21.6 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
KANSAS CITY is 25-14 (+12.2 Units) against the money line when the total is 7 or less this season.
KANSAS CITY is 55-31 (+14.6 Units) against the money line in home games this season.
KANSAS CITY is 32-16 (+12.4 Units) against the money line at home when the total is 7 or less over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 20-8 (+13.9 Units) against the money line in October games over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 30-14 (+15.1 Units) against the money line when playing with a day off over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 97-65 (+23.0 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field this season.
KANSAS CITY is 68-53 (+5.4 Units) against the money line in night games this season.
KANSAS CITY is 17-8 (+10.8 Units) against the money line in playoff games over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 41-27 (+10.7 Units) against the money line after a loss this season.
KANSAS CITY is 92-69 (+18.8 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 47-32 (+14.4 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
VENTURA is 13-4 (+8.8 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season over the last 2 seasons. (Team's Record)
TORONTO is 98-74 (+7.0 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
TORONTO is 53-36 (+10.6 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
TORONTO is 29-13 (+11.3 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
PRICE is 70-39 (+23.9 Units) against the money line in road games since 1997. (Team's Record)
PRICE is 20-6 (+11.5 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field this season. (Team's Record)
PRICE is 41-21 (+18.6 Units) against the money line in road games when playing against a team with a winning record since 1997. (Team's Record)

Head-to-Head Series History
KANSAS CITY is 6-6 (+1.1 Units) against TORONTO this season
6 of 11 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL this season . (Over=+0.7 Units)

DAVID PRICE vs. KANSAS CITY since 1997
PRICE is 2-1 when starting against KANSAS CITY with an ERA of 2.72 and a WHIP of 0.907.
His team's record is 3-3 (-3.9 units) in these starts. The UNDER is 3-2. (+0.7 units)

YORDANO VENTURA vs. TORONTO since 1997
VENTURA is 1-0 when starting against TORONTO with an ERA of 4.15 and a WHIP of 1.269.
His team's record is 3-0 (+3.5 units) in these starts. The OVER is 2-1. (+1.1 units)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MLB
Short Sheet

Friday, October 23

Toronto at Kansas City, 8:05 PM EDT
Toronto: PRICE is 0-7 TSR in playoff games
Kansas City: 14-5 SU in home games against AL East opponents

MLB
Armadillo's Write-Up

Friday, October 23

American League
Blue Jays vs Royals
Price is 1-2, 7.23 in his last three starts (over 3-1-1 last five) he is winless in seven playoff starts, but does have two playoff wins in relief. He retired 18 in a row in his last start before a rough 7th inning doomed him. .

Ventura is 0-1, 6.57 in his last three starts (under 4-2). .

Blue Jays lost four of last seven games with KC; home side won 11 of last 14 series games. Toronto is 5-5 in playoffs (over is 7-3-1 in their last 11 games).

Royals won 11 of their last 15 games (over 6-3 last nine); they get to World Series for second year in row with win here or in Game 7.

MLB

Friday, October 23

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Trend Report
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8:07 PM
TORONTO vs. KANSAS CITY
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Toronto's last 7 games
Toronto is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Kansas City is 11-4 SU in its last 15 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Kansas City's last 7 games

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**Udog** · 10-23-2015, 08:46 AM

MLB

Friday, October 23

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ALCS Game 6 betting preview: Blue Jays at Royals
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Price has allowed 10 runs in 13 2/3 innings in his two starts this postseason, dropping him to 0-7 in his seven career turns as a playoff starter.

Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City Royals (+124, 7.5)

Royals lead series 3-2.

David Price’s struggles in the postseason during his career and this October in particular will all be forgotten with one dominant outing on Friday. Price will take the mound looking for his first career postseason win as a starter when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the Kansas City Royals in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Friday.

Price gets another chance because the Blue Jays offense showed up on Wednesday and battered Edinson Volquez and the Kansas City staff in the 7-1 triumph. The big hit came from Troy Tulowitzki, who is 4-for-8 with six RBIs in Toronto’s two wins in the series and 3-for-11 with one RBI in the three losses. The Royals are heading home for the final two games in the series and are showing no panic while sitting on a 3-2 lead. “That's why homefield was so important to us,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost told reporters after the Game 5 loss. “We really wanted to play four games in our park. And we're taking a 3-games-to-2-lead back to where we are comfortable and back to our home fans that support us and are fantastic.”

TV: 8:07 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

LINE HISTORY: Books have moved to Kansas City +124 after opening around +120. The total opened at 7.5.

INJURY REPORT:

Blue Jays - P Aaron Loup (Probable, personal).

WEATHER: Temperatures in the high-60s with a 58 percent chance of thunderstorms. Wind will blow out to centerfield at around nine miles per hour.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays LH David Price (1-2, 7.02 ERA) vs. Royals RH Yordano Ventura (0-1, 6.57)

Price has allowed 10 runs in 13 2/3 innings in his two starts this postseason, dropping him to 0-7 in his seven career turns as a playoff starter. It looked like the free agent to-be was on his way to a win in Game 2 with six scoreless innings before a misplay in short right field opened the floodgates to a five-run inning and an eventual 6-3 setback. Price has allowed a total of 13 earned runs in the postseason – matching the total from his final seven regular season outings.

Ventura is still looking for his first win of the 2015 postseason and allowed three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings while going up against Price in Game 2. The 24-year-old does have 16 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings over three appearances this postseason to go along with six walks. Ventura surrendered a total of one run and six hits over 14 innings in his final two regular season starts.

TRENDS:

* Road team is 4-0 in umpire Jeff Nelson's last four games behind home plate.
* Blue Jays are 1-4 in the last five meetings in Kansas City.
* Blue Jays are 5-1 in Price's last six road starts.
* Royals are 7-1 in their last eight games vs. a left-handed starter.

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**Udog** · 10-23-2015, 09:35 AM

MLB

Friday, October 23

Weather could be factor in ALCS Game 6

The Toronto Blue Jays will try to beat the Royals and the weather Friday night in Kansas City to force Game 7 in the American League Championship Series.

The Blue Jays stayed alive in the best-of-seven series with a 7-1 victory in Game 5 on Wednesday in Toronto. A chance of rain is in the forecast for Friday, though the storm could move out of the area before game time.

Both teams fell behind in the first round of the postseason and rallied to advance.

The Royals were on the brink of losing their best-of-five American League Division Series when they were down 6-2 to the Houston Astros in Game 4. However, Kansas City came back to win that game 9-6, then posted a 7-2 win in Game 5.

The Blue Jays trailed the Texas Rangers 2-0 in their ALDS before erasing the deficit and moving on. More recently, after losing the first two games to Kansas City, Toronto battled back to pull within 3-2 in the ALCS.

Getting pushed to the brink seems to bring out the best in the Blue Jays.

"You look at all the elimination games, our offense has really come to life," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We've said all along that's the key to our team, scoring runs. You hate to make a habit of it, but maybe we can pull it off again."

Facing elimination for the second time in the ALCS, the Blue Jays will send left-hander David Price to the mound in Game 6 to face Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura.

Price took the loss in Game 1 when he gave up five runs in the seventh inning after shutting out the Royals until then. He is now 0-7 as a starter during his career in the playoffs.

"I know what I'm capable of doing, and I think everybody in this room knows what I'm capable of doing," Price said. "I think I just kind of want to do it too bad. And it's long overdue for me to get a win as a starter in the playoffs, and I'll be ready to change that story (Friday)."

Ventura and the Royals will be looking to secure a World Series berth with a win in their home park. Ventura left the opening game of the ALCS after giving up three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"Very fortunate and happy that this game has landed on my turn here in Kansas City and with the opportunity for me to take this club to the World Series," Ventura said. "And I'll be ready for (Friday's) game."

Royals manager Ned Yost feels good about sending Ventura to the mound. The 24-year-old has started seven playoff games the past two seasons for Kansas City.

"He keeps us in the game," Yost said. "He's got a lot of confidence in his abilities, he's got a lot of confidence in his stuff, and you know the moment is not going to overwhelm him.

"He's gotten past all that. He's learned some great lessons this year about how to handle adversity and how to be a No. 1 guy. We saw it last year during the playoffs, just kind of found a way to take his game to just a little bit of a different level. We expect him to do that (Friday night)."

Gibbons thinks his team is in a good frame of mind after the Game 5 win.

"Well, it got us back here," he said. "That's huge for the morale. Well, really, we had to have it. We just felt great getting it.

"Our goal, of course, was to bring it back to Kansas City. We did that. And we're riding high right now. But we always ride high, if you want to know the truth. We don't always win, but we feel good."

Royals LF Gordon struck by own foul ball

Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon suffered a bloody nose during off-day batting practice when he was struck by a ball off his own bat on Thursday.

Gordon hit a ball that struck the top of the batting cage and it ricocheted directly back at him and hit him in the nose. He was momentarily stunned and bleeding before leaving the field for treatment.

The situation won't prevent Gordon from being in the lineup for Friday's Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Kansas City has a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Announcement

Friday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/23

Friday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/23

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